Congress gives approval to new Iran sanctions

Posted: June 25, 2010 - 12:31am

WASHINGTON - Congress on Thursday overwhelmingly passed tough new sanctions against Iran, sending a message to the Tehran government that notions of becoming a nuclear power could be accompanied by a steep economic price.

The Senate and House in quick succession approved the penalties that focus on Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and the country's imports of gas and other refined energy products.

The measure now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the legislation, coming after a year in which the Obama administration's direct diplomacy efforts were largely rebuffed by Iran, represented "the most powerful sanctions ever imposed by the Congress on the government of Iran."

Foreign companies will be given a choice, McCain said.

One provision added in final House-Senate negotiations specifies that foreign banks interacting with the Revolutionary Guard or certain Iranian banks will be shut out of the U.S. financial system. That measure alone has "the potential to be a game changer" in Iran's defiance of international criticism of its nuclear program, said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif.